Remembering... T. S. Eliot

Clearly, there are two options open to a writer; either he may flood the market with his work in quantity or he may prefer to allow a trickle of perfection to water his fame. While I have recently much favoured the former, T. S. Eliot obviously preferred the latter. 'The only thing that matters is that these should be perfect in their kind, so that each should be an event,' he is quoted as saying, the smug bastard.

Obviously, I have never been much of a fan of Eliot's, likely because his desire for privacy hasn't allowed a persona to develop, and that's the only way I can appreciate anybody. A bed-ridden neurasthenic frequently laid low by bronchitis, a virgin 'til he was twenty-six, with only a few famous friends (most of whom were as low-key as him) doesn't exactly start a fire of curiosity in me. Then again, neither does a devout Christian responsible for the musical Cats, and yet he was both of these and more.

Still, thanks to this blog I've been given many opportunities to revisit those whom my high school prejudices had previously discounted, and T. S. Eliot is among them. His magpie approach to both language and inspiration is remarkably akin to the wholesale plunder I've been known to practice, and I could stand to develop his deftness in this regard.

Since Eliot was one of the first to open up poetry from the vise grip of form which in turn both ruled and ruined poetry, he's to be commended for popularizing the form. Likewise, the fact that C. S. Lewis considered his work 'a very great evil' does much to recommend Eliot to me, as I've always rather disliked Lewis and his myriad judgements including this one (as if any poetry could be evil). Plus, he did win the Nobel Prize (in 1948).

Now, his anti-Semitism on the other hand... As dismaying as it is, it needs to be considered in context. He certainly seemed comfortable enough with individual Jews, such as Leonard Woolf, who considered him a friend. But a hundred generations of devout Christians have excoriated the Jews (as opposed to the Romans) for putting their man on a stick (even though it was God's will that it be done) so it's perhaps understandable nonetheless. Later in life, Eliot was known to support Israel.

Eliot famously said: 'Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.' To which I can only add: 'I wish I'd said that.' Who knows? Some day I just might... It only remains to be seen if I imitate it, steal it, ruin it, or improve it when I do!
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Remembering... Paul Newman

Unlike 2009 and 2010 - with their wholesale massacres of celebrities on every list from A to Z - the Grim Reaper was somewhat more judicious in his dealings with Hollywood in 2008; among those he took from us in that year, however, was a genuine show business titan: Mr Paul Newman... In fact, such a living legend was he that it's long been something of a challenge trying to determine precisely what was the best thing about a man whose good qualities ran riot!

There were the looks of course: a lean frame, a wry smile that ingratiated itself right through you, and the coolest blue eyes the silver screen ever saw. Then again, there were his humanist politics, which so menaced US President Richard M. Nixon that Tricky Dick ended up using the full resources of the Internal Revenge Revenue Service to hound Newman unlike few others on his so-called Enemies List. There's also the matter of his 50 year marriage to Joanne Woodward, which speaks of a consistency and loyalty which was all-too-rare in Hollywood circa 1958 and is well-nigh extinct in that company town today. Yet while Newman's acting chops were nearly as impressive as his choices, it's pretty clear that his legacy remains his charity work...

Thanks to his Newman's Own brand - and according to their website - as much as US$270 million has been donated to worthy causes, such as the annual PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award; Newman was also heavily involved in the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, as well as supporting scholarships at Ohio's Kenyon College. All of which work - like the roles he lovingly crafted for the silver screen - will continue to live on in his name.

The highlights of Paul Newman's acting career scarcely need to be gone over yet again but, in the interest of moving product (which, let's face it, is the only way I'm ever going to be able to make any money at this some day) I'mma do it anyway... Films from 1956's Somebody Up There Likes Me, 1958's The Long, Hot Summer and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1961's The Hustler, 1962's Sweet Bird of Youth, 1963's Hud, 1967's Cool Hand Luke, 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1973's The Sting, and 1986's The Color of Money, all the way to 2002's Road to Perdition - and many more besides! - all benefited from the preponderance of this special man and his copious talents.

So on this of all days, whether it's dinner you're planning, or else an after-dinner movie, who better to nourish your body and soul than Paul Newman, who died on this day in 2008.
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Happy European Day of Languages

Be sure and celebrate the many tongues of Europe today by... Wait a minute. What was I talking about? Oh yes, the European Day of Languages!

The European Day of Languages was first proclaimed by the EU in 2001, at the end of the European Year of Languages.

They were no doubt inspired to support linguistic diversity for the same reasons I am; since I am an enthusiastic supporter of English as a universal language, in order to assuage my own guilt over assiduously undermining a layer of diversity in human culture I believe in supporting an issue like minority language rights. I figure it's the least I can do to reduce my own karma footprint.

Similarly, since the EU is looking to remove those differences that have seen most of Europe used as a battleground for the past 2000 years, it is also incumbent upon them not to assimilate Europe to the point where Belgrade is identical to Baden-Baden is identical to Birmingham.

So if you speak Gaelic or Walloon, are fluent in French or Greek or even Finnish, celebrate it. Or if you don't, enroll in classes, buy yourself a Rosetta Stone CD set, or watch a subtitled movie today; you'll be glad you did! Esto es vivire!*

*That is to say 'This is living!' in Spanish...
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"Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson

My own performing debut was singing this song a cappella for assembled family members (with my mother on harmony) the Christmas I was five. Therefore, it's always had a special place in my heart; also included in my set that evening was Delta Dawn.

Though principally remembered for the song (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (written by Joe South), Lynn Anderson had a string of hits on the country charts in the 1970s, including Top of the World, which she took to Number One before The Carpenters did. But Rose Garden was her biggest hit by far on the pop charts, thanks almost entirely to music industry guru Clive Davis, who made the decision to release it as a single.

Lynn Anderson today turns 63.
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The Death of Bessie Smith

When writing about the lives - and especially the deaths - of black Americans, one runs the risk of sounding like a broken record, which is certainly an unforgivable offense in the case of Bessie Smith, if inevitable, since her death could be described as the ultimate broken record...

From her debut in 1923 onward, Bessie Smith made a lot of white men very wealthy; in the last 14 years of her life she worked tirelessly, both recording and performing the blues throughout the United States, only to die - it is said - because of the prevailing racism of the times.

Yet the powerful myth surrounding Smith's death - while instrumental in the creation of any legend as mighty as hers - is not more moving than the real story...

On this day in 1937, at about 3 AM, while traveling along Route 61 from Memphis to Clarksdale, Mississippi, the car Bessie Smith was in was struck by a van. Her right arm was nearly severed at the elbow in the initial impact, and the right side of her body was severely traumatized. Although the driver of the car, Richard Morgan, was uninjured, Bessie never regained consciousness.

While the driver of the van stopped, he later fled the scene; though he was later apprehended and arrested, history does not record his name. Had he used his van to take Bessie to hospital, she may well have lived. Then again, shock is a fast-moving, ruthless killer, and possibly nothing could have saved her from it.

Dr. Hugh Smith happened along with a Mr. Broughton, his fishing buddy, and while administering first aid to her, his own car was struck; its driver was likely drunk. In any event, neither he nor his female passenger were seriously hurt, although they narrowly missed hitting both the unconscious Bessie and the doctor, and they totaled the doctor's car.

Two ambulances arrived; the first one took Bessie to the blacks-only hospital in Clarksdale, the second conveyed the joyriders to the white hospital. Although the myth was that Bessie was originally taken to the whites-only hospital and refused treatment there a) her ambulance driver was a black man named Willie Miller, who would have known better than to take her to the wrong place, and b) even if he had, the two hospitals in Clarksdale were about a half-mile apart.

Unfortunately, the blacks-only G. T. Thomas Hospital was both understaffed and under-equipped. Nevertheless, it was there that Bessie Smith died, likely of shock, exacerbated by the comedy of errors which played out on Route 61. Her time of death was listed as 11:30 AM.

Though it's understandable why so much misinformation regarding the death of Bessie Smith was disseminated in the thirty years after her death, historians owe a debt of gratitude to Chris Albertson; his 1972 biography of the Empress of the Blues is still the best text available on her life and death.
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POPnews - September 26th

[Although he had previously manipulated the media successfully - 1952's Checkers speech is a marvel of double talk - Nixon's brand of sleaze was no match for the media-ready youth and suave manner of JFK.]
715 CE - Ragenfrid defeated Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.

1212 - Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II issued the Golden Bull of Sicily, granting the Přemyslid Dynasty's Dukes of Bohemia a hereditary royal title; the first of the Kings of Bohemia was Otakar I.

1580 - Francis Drake sailed The Golden Hind into Plymouth Harbour having completed a circumnavigation of the globe; he was knighted aboard his vessel the following year by Elizabeth I for his efforts.

1687 - The Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed when a shell launched by Venetian forces commanded by Francesco Morosini lit an ammunition dump that the occupying Turks kept inside it. Following the damage, Morosini plundered the now semi-ruined temple, taking some of the better sculptures back to Venice with him.

1789 - Thomas Jefferson was appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph the first United States Attorney General.

1810 - A new Act of Succession was adopted by Sweden's Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte became heir to the throne of Charles XIII.

1907 - Both New Zealand and Newfoundland became Dominions within the British Empire, conferring upon them a semi-independent status. New Zealand became fully independent in 1947, while Newfoundland lost some of its status in 1934, only to lose the rest of it when it joined Canada in 1949.

1908 - Ed Reulbach of the Chicago Cubs became the first and only pitcher to throw two shutouts in one day, which he did against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1914 - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.

1934 - The steamship RMS Queen Mary was launched.

1937 - The Shadow debuted on radio on the Mutual Broadcasting System, starring the golden voice of a then-unknown Orson Welles.

1957 - West Side Story - book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins - opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 732 performances in its initial run. Its original cast featured Carol Lawrence as Maria, Chita Rivera as Anita, and Larry Kert as Tony.

1960 - In Chicago, the first televised debate took place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

1961 - Bob Dylan made his breakthrough as a performer when a show he gave at Gerde's Folk City was given a rave review in the New York Times by Robert Shelton.

1962 - The Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed.

1966 - The Chevy Camaro first appeared as part of the 1967 model year, giving generations of insecure men a new lease on life.

1969 - The Beatles released their last studio album, Abbey Road, in the UK; although it would be the last album recorded by them, technically the last album released before their breakup in 1970 was Let It Be. The cover of Abbey Road is, of course, most famous for creating the whole Paul is dead hoo-hah - one of the more durable urban legends going. Ironically, the album opens with a song called Come Together, yet was recorded as relations between band members had grown increasingly rancourous...

1973 - Concorde made a non-stop supersonic crossing of the Atlantic in record time; regularly scheduled flights, however, wouldn't begin until January 1976.

1983 - Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averted a worldwide nuclear war.
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Felicitations Felicity Kendal

The secret to sitcom success is in the ensemble, which is what makes The Good Life (better known as Good Neighbors in North America) the classic that it is. Stuffy Jerry, self-righteous Tom, snobbish Margo, and sweet Barbara appeared together, amazingly enough, in only 30 episodes. Yet they are thirty very rich episodes indeed, and to watch them in their entirety on DVD (as I've recently done) is to feel fed in some way as well as entertained...

Though she performed Shakespeare throughout India with her family as a child (later the subject of Merchant Ivory's first major film Shakespeare Wallah, written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), and despite playing herself in that film, Felicity Kendal - born on this day in 1946 - struggled to find a footing in her career. The Good Life made both a star and a sex symbol out of her; she was known as 'the thinking man's crumpet' in the 1970s, and throughout the 1980s and 90s she appeared in the West End's glittering London in the plays of Tom Stoppard.

Having completed Rosemary & Thyme (which finished its own three-year run in 2007), Kendal next appeared in an episode for an obscure little show nobody's ever heard of called Doctor Who entitled The Unicorn and the Wasp opposite David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and then spent her springtime on the West End stage, appearing in Noel Coward's play The Vortex, which wrapped in June 2008.  She then undertook roles in the plays The Last Cigarette and Mrs Warren's Profession before switching it up by agreeing to appear in Strictly Come Dancing*.

*As part of the show's new series, which began 14 days ago.
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In Memoriam: William Faulkner

After a lifetime of reading well above my grade level, I'm only just now able to follow the works of William Faulkner. It's not just that the writing is so showy - 'look how smart I am' is proclaimed on every page - it's that the subject matter is also heavy.

There isn't a Faulkner novel that isn't fraught with taboo themes; as shocking as these would have been to audiences of the 1930s and 1940s, they still contain the power to startle today. If you feel sex, religion, and politics are no suitable topics for civilized discussion then by no means should you read anything by William Faulkner.

Of course, most writers try to make sense of the world by forcing its people and events into some kind of linear form, by pulling a single strand from the weave of life and by studying it gleaning some insight into the whole; Faulkner seemingly took what little linearity he could find in the world around him and shattered it back into chaos through his work.

These days, a journey into Yoknapatawpha County isn't fraught with nearly as much fear as it was when first I visited there in Grade Ten. It's still not my favourite place to visit, but nor do I find myself going out of my way to avoid the place any more either. Of his novels, 1929's The Sound and the Fury, 1930's As I Lay Dying, 1931's Sanctuary, and 1932's Light in August represent both the pinnacle of his career and a gargantuan effort of creation.

Born on this day in 1897, William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, aged only 52; he died in July 1962 after years of serious alcoholism.
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Now Showing: "The Magdalene Laundries" by Joni Mitchell

Recorded live in Japan in 1994, here Joni Mitchell sings the Hell out of one of her newest songs, from that same year's album Turbulent Indigo.

The story of Ireland's Magdalene Asylums is a sad and shameful one, born of the kind of misogyny for which the Catholic Church has become famous the world over; Mitchell's song was the first I'd ever heard of these combination orphanage/workhouses, but in the years since artists of other stripes have enjoined to tell the story as well. In 2002 Peter Mullan wrote and directed the film The Magdalene Sisters about the poor women doomed to servitude because men have been blaming women for enflaming their lust for so long now they're unable to take responsibility for their own actions - all with the official sanction of the so-called Holy Mother Church.


Pointedly, though, Mitchell's song was released nearly two years before the last Magdalene Asylum closed, on this day in 1996. How much longer would they have stayed open, I wonder, if she hadn't?
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Gratuitous Brunette: Catherine Zeta-Jones

Birthday girl Catherine Zeta-Jones burst into the North American collective consciousness with her appearance in 1998's The Mask of Zorro, in which she costarred with Antonio Banderas and Sir Anthony Hopkins. The UK, on the other hand, had known about her since she appeared in The Darling Buds of May from 1991 to 1993.

The real accolades, however, came from her appearance in Chicago (2002) in which she sang and danced, in addition to acting and looking fabulous; she won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Velma Kelly, the murderous vamp undone by Renée Zellweger's squinty, stick-thin Roxie Hart. Even more impressive was her performance at that year's Oscars while so great with child the fetus was practically eligible for an appearance credit.

Although her 2000 marriage to Michael Douglas (coincidentally also born this day, albeit a quarter of a century earlier) enlivened many a late-night monologue, here it is already at the ten-year mark with nary an itch in sight. Maybe all those comedians were wrong and she was right...
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Happy Birthday Your Royal Highness

Either the Dutch are entirely too respectful towards their royals, the Dutch press are Internet-phobes, or Dutch royalty are hermits... Amazingly, this is the best picture of Prince Friso on the web.

Of course, after a scandalous marriage to a gangster's moll (for which he had to relinquish his claim to the throne), and a wee bit of tampering with her Wikipedia profile - as previously reported on the Pop Culture Institute - perhaps His High Royalness thought it best to avoid the spotlight for a few years.

Born on this day in 1968, the Prince made a Princess out of Mabel Wisse Smit in April 2004, despite her shady past with Klaas Bruinsma; their children, Countess Luana and Countess Zaria, were born in March 2005 and June 2006 respectively.
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Remembering... Christopher Reeve

Following the horseback riding accident that made him a quadriplegic many commentators remarked on the irony* of the man who played Superman having to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Yet, to my way of thinking, the irony was apt.

He confessed after his accident that prior to it he'd never given spinal cord injuries a second thought; once he suffered from one himself, though, he seemingly devoted the rest of his life to the cause, which made him a far more super man than he might have been had he remained merely an able-bodied actor.

It was a cruel twist of Fate that gave Christopher Reeve his greatest role ever, and an even crueler one which ensured he would never live to see it realized. Born this day in 1952, when Reeve died suddenly in October 2004 his passing was mourned around the world.

*The so-called 'Curse of Superman' notwithstanding...
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Remembering... Audra Lindley

She was, of course, unforgettable as Helen Roper, the over-sexed middle-aged landlady on Three's Company, which was itself a remake of the UK sitcom Man About The House. So memorable was Audra Lindley's chemistry with Norman Fell, in fact, that their characters were spun-off into another show The Ropers - which was itself a remake of UK sitcom George and Mildred, and which had itself been spun-off from Man About The House. Got all that?

The Ropers was also notable for costarring Jeffrey Tambor; despite the abundance of comedic talent, the show lasted just 28 episodes. Following the cancellation of The Ropers in 1979 Lindley had a memorable turn in the 1985 film Desert Hearts, and finally played Phoebe's grandmother on Friends.

What I didn't know was that she was also in Bridget Loves Bernie, an obscure bit of TV from the 1972-3 season that gave Meredith Baxter Birney her first break, or that she'd appeared on Another World, playing Liz Matthews for six years from early on (1964-69).

To me, though, she'll always be Mrs. Roper. Though she was clearly in the show initially for comic relief, she rapidly became its heart and soul, exuding warmth and humour as she connived with Jack, Janet, and Chrissy, to put one over on Mr. Roper in episode after episode.

Born on this day in 1913, when Audra Lindley died of leukemia in October 1997 she was still working, appearing on Cybill. She was survived by her husband, actor James Whitmore, and five children by her first marriage to Dr. Hardy Ulm, to whom she was married from 1943-60.
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Phil Hartman: Gone But Not Forgotten

It's amazing the stuff you learn when blogging. Today I learned that, even when what you know about someone is impressive, you can always learn something new about them that makes them more impressive still...

For instance, today I learned that Phil Hartman was Canadian, born on this day in 1948, although his family moved to the US when he was 9. He was fluent in German, which always impresses me, mainly because it's my least favourite language; I have to admire the intestinal fortitude of anyone who dares to speak it. He was also a graphic designer who created the iconic line drawing of a running horse on the Poco album Legend.

Phil Hartman has long been my favourite cast member from Saturday Night Live; on a show renowned for the talent and variety of its performers, Hartman was clearly the most talented, the most varied of them all. Whether doing an impersonation (Reagan, Sinatra, Clinton) or a character of his own (the recurring Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the one-off - and my personal favourite - Suzan, or a score of others) his commitment and focus were admirable. When he left after eight seasons his tenure was then the longest of any cast member to date.

Hartman's considerable gifts were also well-used on The Simpsons, where he memorably voiced both Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz. He played Captain Carl on Pee-wee's Playhouse. He added to the pool of talent on Newsradio and made a couple of brilliant appearances on 3rd Rock from the Sun; a cliffhanger on that show had to be re-written to accommodate his untimely death.

In May 1998 his evil bitch of a wife murdered him before killing herself (at the time she was also drunk, coked off her tits, and taking Zoloft); she's now burning in Hell, the world has been deprived of his many gifts, their children are orphans, and as you can tell I'm still bitter.
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Happy Birthday Steve Whitmire

Steve Whitmire was ten years old the first time he wrote to Jim Henson; amazingly (or not, considering) Henson wrote him back. Thus began a long and distinguished career for Whitmire which, given his relative youth, is still in its prime.

Whether on The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, or in any of the scores of movies and other projects in which the Muppets have appeared, Whitmire has brought his particular verve and love of puppetry to everything he does.

Currently the voice of Kermit the Frog, Whitmire's other characters include Rizzo the Rat, Wembley Fraggle, and Andy Pig. He has also taken over the characters of Beaker, Ernie, and Statler, which were created by others.
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"Bein' Green" by Kermit the Frog

Seeing as today would have been Jim Henson's birthday (as well as being Steve Whitmire's) a little Kermit the Frog is in order. Of course, I could just as easily say 'seeing as the sun came out today' or 'seeing as I woke up today'; every day a little Kermit is in order.

Bein' Green was written by Joe Raposo for the first season of Sesame Street in 1969 - which is where this performance comes from - and it has since become Kermit's theme song.
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In Memoriam: F. Scott Fitzgerald

In a way it seems apt that he excelled at short fiction, for the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald was both short and a brilliant fiction itself...

The ease with which he moved among the idle rich belied the fact that he needed to be anything but idle in order to be rich enough to pay for merely the appearance of wealth. Throughout the 1920s, while still productive, he produced an extraordinary array of short stories, and three novels: in 1920 This Side of Paradise, from 1922 The Beautiful and the Damned, and in 1925 his masterpiece The Great Gatsby.

By the 1930s, of course, the decade-long party of the Jazz Age was over, the cafes to which Cafe Society had flocked all shuttered; his wife Zelda's descent into madness and his own alcoholism seemed to mirror the Great Depression into which the nation had fallen, and henceforth there was never enough money or time to revive the early promise he'd shown.

Born on this day in 1896, Fitzgerald died in December 1940.
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In Case You Missed It...

...the lyrics to the previous song.

Load up on guns
Bring your friends
Its fun to lose
And to pretend
Shes overboard
Myself assured
I know I know
A dirty word

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

Im worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea
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"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

As difficult as it may seem to believe, my musical taste was not always as broad as it is now...

For instance, I didn't like Nirvana when the Nevermind album was released, on this day in 1991. As was so often the case back then, if the fans of a given band frightened me, I tended to stay away from both the fans and the band. And in those days, nothing frightened me more than the very scary people who were raving about Nirvana.

In my defense, at that time I was living in Kelowna, where most of the radio stations were talk AM, and the only FM station played extreme easy listening*. I also didn't have Muchmusic then, and so all I listened to was Madonna, whatever cassettes I could afford to buy, and the music that got played one night a month at the local gay dance.

It wasn't until I saw Nirvana on MTV Unplugged that I got what everyone else was going on about. It was only a short while later, of course, that Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

I get it now, though, and Smells Like Teen Spirit is seldom off my iPod these days.

*I mean, like, Mantovani's version of Anne Murray's hits... Pure elevator music.
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"Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen

I can still remember how incredulous my gay male friends were when they heard that Bruce Springsteen of all people was going to contribute a song to the soundtrack of the 1994 film Philadelphia, which was all about AIDS and homophobia. (Springsteen would go on to win an Academy Award for his efforts.)

That incredulity extended to an interviewer for The Advocate, who had the temerity to ask why.

Springsteen - as anyone who's ever actually listened to his music would know - is a sensitive observer of the human condition. Writing songs and playing guitar is no way to win friends in high school (or it wasn't in late-1960s suburban New Jersey, at least according to him), and in the interview he recounted the frequent bouts of name-calling and scuffles on the playground he'd encountered.

Gay or not, he's one of us, since... Well, when it comes to teenage boys, we all know their epithet of choice, and without going into detail Springsteen made it clear that he'd been called it as much as anyone. The implication was also that he'd maybe been roughed up a little, too; rather than turning him against us, though, Springsteen's own encounters with homophobia made him into an instant ally.

Of course, I'd also remembered reading in Rolling Stone that when Ronald Reagan personally asked to use Springsteen's Born in the USA as his campaign song in 1984 Springsteen told him that the song was actually a criticism of Reagan and his policies. I'd always liked him, but the moment I read that was the moment I became a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen.

Happy Birthday, Boss!
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